STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- As family and friends of Staten Island Academy's Class of 2013 filed into the O.J. Buck Gymnasium Friday to honor the accomplishment of the 34 graduates, they passed by a handsome plaque on the wall, with the words, simply: "We Learn. We Play. We Grow."

Indeed the 125th commencement of the college preparatory school was a reflection on the group's charmed years spent at the Todt Hill campus, engaged in these activities that are the very essence of an education.

The stand-out young men and women -- all of whom are college bound -- also considered the shape of the future, pledging to continue to learn, play and grow through joy and solemnity, opportunity and responsibility.

"Each and every member of this year's senior class has brought an attribute that is influential and valuable, which has made our time at Staten Island Academy more memorable," said Head of School Medal recipient Amy Ciardiello, after performing a moving violin solo of J.S. Bach's "Loure."

The accomplished musician, athlete, actress and scholar praised the school as a place to find nourishment and challenge. In introducing faculty speaker, science teacher and senior adviser Roger Ahern, the University of Michigan-bound graduate said:

"There are not enough words" to describe his magic way of finding the right words, at the right time, to instill confidence and the courage to move forward. Ahern pulled from history -- picking, 1963, a half century ago -- to show how we, as a society have grown, learned and changed even as so many of our fundamental struggles remain the same.

"Pay attention to the world around you; care about and for the world around you ... become historic," he urged, describing the social upheaval and iconic speeches that shook the country that year. Then, turning to the youngsters, to standing applause, he humbly pledged his enduring affection: "I hope, I have amused, bemused and maybe been a muse for you."

Student speaker Geoffrey David Besser shared with classmates the wisdom of knowing they have much yet to know. He gave a humorous assessment of where the graduates stand, on the cusp of adulthood, but not yet wholly there -- with beds still that will "magically make themselves" if left untouched and cupboards that automatically refill. "The things we aren't prepared for is what college will mean as opposed to what it will require ... we have no idea what we are getting ourselves into, but that's okay," he said.

His classmate, Lionel Greene, Jr., chosen to give the student address, gave a witty riff on chocolate milk -- obviously a well understood joke among his peers -- artfully casting their shared enthusiasm for the creamy treat as a metaphor for the shared experiences that bind them.

"Love your neighbor as yourself," said keynote speaker the Rev. Terry Troia, executive director of Project Hospitality, joking that a replenishing cupboard would help her mission as a provider of food to the needy. "And that's it, truthfully that's all you really need to know in life, but if you don't know that, everything else is useless."

She told the youngsters to take care of themselves, and of others: "Figure out how you're connected to other people and make that connection stick," she said, urging students to take seriously their sacred responsibility to those less privileged. "Fight for justice on behalf of others so that you may live free."Hinting at the challenges of climate change and ever more complex political global landscape, she told the graduates: "You have the power to save this planet and you are entrusted with that task and that application and it is a terrible burden to carry but we look to you."

Head of School Albert R. Cauz hinted at the same future truths, when he told the graduates, somberly: "Your generation will have to be nothing short of heroic."

He and Caroline Diamond Harrison, president of the school's board of trustees, handed the students their diplomas, with each pausing to smile for loved ones.

"We all need to head off on our own adventures...to take a seemingly blind step alone into a new world," said John J. (Jack) Urbanek, the recipient of the school's Trustees' Medal. "Hopefully we can carry our mutual past, as a beacon to guide us through."